It's Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 11th.
Today's word is vitiate, spelled V-I-T-I-A-T-E.
Vitiate is a verb.
To vitiate something is to ruin it or render it ineffective.
Here's the word used in a sentence from The New Yorker by Richard Brody.
Lily Gladstone does more with thought in Killers of the Flower Moon than most actors ever achieve with flagrant and spectacular action.
Her presence fills the screen with what used to be understood as star power,
before the mainly technical prowess of conservatory trained actors became a mark of Hollywood dignity.
The role she plays is one of tragic complexity.
Blatant theatrics would have vitiated its grandeur.
If you're itching to find fault with the word vitiate, you don't have to look far.
The word comes ultimately from the Latin noun vitium, which refers to a fault,
vice, shortcoming, or impediment to success or perfection.
Accordingly, vitiate, like its fellow vitium-descended V words, vituperate,
meaning to use harsh condemning language, vicious and vice, has a negative bent.
to vitiate something is essentially to mar or damage it in some way,
whether by ruining or spoiling it, as in a joke vitiated by poor timing,
corrupting it morally, as in a mind vitiated by prejudice,
or rendering it null and ineffective, as in fraud that vitiates a contract.
Despite its versatility, Vitiate is most often effective when used in formal speech and writing.